Perry seeks public input for growth plans

The City of Perry and the Perry Downtown Development Authority have partnered with the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government and the Georgia Municipal Association to engage Perry area residents and business owners in a citywide Master Plan and Strategic Visioning process. Seeking direct input from community members, a Town Hall meeting will be held on Thursday, April 17, at 6pm, at the Perry Arts Center in Downtown Perry. Open to the public, all voices are sought and encouraged.

The Town Hall meeting will be both interactive and engaging, soliciting your feedback and ideas. Participants will have the opportunity to weigh in on future growth and design elements using interactive, electronic polling devices where results will be shared instantly. Led by a team of experts from the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, this public engagement process is designed to allow the community to provide direct input into where and how we grow as a community.

Focusing on high-growth commercial corridors as well as the Downtown Development District, the Master Plan will consider primary nodes of development and target specific types of development patterns, character areas and architectural standards, streetscape design, connective modes of alternative transportation, wayfinding and directional signage, neighborhood redevelopment, and community branding.

A unique opportunity, the City asks for your participation and comments to guide growth throughout Perry. We are particularly interested in ensuring the design and implementation plan reflects the opinions and habits of those who not only live and work here, but also those who utilize our community and its infrastructure on a regular basis as visitors and tourists.

Given today’s unique economic challenges, now is the time for future planning and partnership. We need your help in understanding how the entire Perry community, its residents, businesses, industry, and other key stakeholders would like to see growth occur. Your input is critical to creating an overall design for the future growth of Perry. Please make plans to come out and support your community’s efforts to make Perry a thriving, exciting and viable community now and in the future!

In recognition of the City’s commitment to fostering growth in a deliberate and conscientious manner, Perry was recently named a Renaissance Strategic Visioning and Planning (RSVP) Program Community by the Georgia Municipal Association and its partners, the Georgia Cities Foundation, the University of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the Georgia Downtown Association. The RSVP designation will provide for additional training around funding mechanisms and incentive programs for implementation of the Master Plan once completed later this summer.

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